MaryAnn, a.k.a Masha, is a lovely, cheerful Lhasa Apso or Havanese mix girl who came to MARS with her two sisters when their owners left town. Masha settled right in at her foster home. She did not mind being separated with her sisters. She is nice to the resident Toy Poodle and loves, loves, loves the little 4-year-old girl in her foster home. 

 

Masha was badly matted and dirty, so her foster mom gave her a bath, and Masha tolerated it very well. MARS had her hair shaved down to give her a fresh start in the beauty department. Check out the photos where she was still hairy - her hair is almost grown back now, minus the matted mess. Masha looks like a large Maltese, and, just like that breed, will require to be groomed regularly to look her spectacular best.

Masha is potty trained on a schedule.  She is crated during the day, not a huge a fan of this experience. Masha now very reluctantly goes into her kennel ( needs to be nudged a bit) and would whine and bark when she hears her family come back because she is super excited to go out.  Those living in apartments or townhomes need to consider whether a 5-10 minute bark fest while you get to her kennel to let her out is going to pose a problem for neighbors. At night, she has human bed privileges and sleeps through the night without a sound.

Masha loves going for walks and meet new people and dogs. She has a bit of an explorer streak in her and might just sneak out the door in the split second it opens to let a human in, so the foster mom is paying special attention to that. However, over time, Mashavhas demonstrated an excellent recall and comes back fast.

Masha does not bark much in the house ( other when she hears her family come back from work), only when she sees a dog through a window, and will stop as soon as the foster mom says "no". When she's outside and sees a dog, she'll bark much more and stops when she meets the dog close up. She is very smart and knows the command "sit". When her foster mom taps her hands on the knees and says "dance", Masha gets up on her hind legs ready to dance. In fact, she never misses a chance to show and receive affection, what a sweetie! If a squeaky toy is thrown to her, Masha likes to chase it and brings it back and actually drops it at your feet - check out her video!

 

Masha is everyone's friend and has an easy-going personality. She even was friendly with dog-savvy cats ( but no guarantee that she will do equally well with standoffish felines). Masha likes to be close to her humans and snooze next to them on a couch or by their feet. She has joined the evening routine of reading a book to the little girl and finds a space in between the girl, mom's lap and a book. Masha will make a great family companion and hopes to be adopted soon.